Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
I sit on the side of the bed and pull up the text chain between Eli and me, the last messages being the plans we made to meet at Lincoln’s, where I saw Miles out on a date. It’s odd looking back at the texts now and remembering how unsure I was about what I should do the moment Eli asked if we could meet to talk.
Typing quickly, I ask him if he wouldn’t mind checking the apartment for the photo album and let him know where I think I might have left it. Within seconds after pressing Send, three dots appear, then a message pops up, saying he found it a couple of days ago and had been meaning to get in touch with me.
Sighing in relief, I message back, asking if he minds if I pick it up, and his response of Sure is instantaneous. When I glance at the clock, I see I have a little over an hour before I need to be at Winter’s school to pick her up.
Hazel left to go home early this morning, and last night before she went to bed, she came upstairs to ask if I could be the one to pick her up this evening. I of course said yes, even though I had to rearrange my schedule. But things worked out in the end, since the full head of extensions I did took more time than I expected, so I would’ve had to cancel my other client anyway.
I stand from the side of the bed and glance at my empty overnight bag, the stuff that was inside it currently in the pile of dirty laundry that just keeps growing. I debate if I should repack it with clean clothes, then decide against it. With Hazel gone and Winter back home, I doubt Miles will want me sleeping over. And maybe Miles can get a full-night’s sleep for once without me waking him up.
It takes me less that twenty minutes to get to Eli’s building from Miranda’s apartment, and as I’m walking toward the glass double doors, I happen a glance across the street to where Miles and I stood when things between Eli and I finally came to an end. It feels like a lifetime has passed since that moment.
Going into the building, I take the elevator up, then knock on his apartment door and wait, hearing Dolly’s tiny paws claw at the door.
As soon as the door opens, Dolly comes bouncing out and begins dancing around my feet, making me laugh. I bend to pick her up, but it takes a second to catch her in her excitement. “Hey, baby.” I hold her wiggling body against my chest and laugh as she licks my face. If Winter was here, she would lose her mind.
Lifting my eyes to Eli’s, I smile. He looks exactly the same, but all those feelings I had that were tied to him are gone. There is nothing there. Even my anger and frustration with him has vanished.
He opens the door wider, and I follow him inside. “I found a few things you forgot.” He waves a hand toward the box on the coffee table that is filled with random items and my photo album. But it’s not the only box. There are moving boxes stacked up against every wall.
“Thank you.”
“It’s not a big deal.” He tucks his hands into the pockets of his sweats. “She misses you,” he mumbles, watching Dolly.
“The feeling is mutual.” I laugh when she tries to bury her face into the collar of my sweatshirt.
“My mom is coming to pick her up next week.”
“Why?” I frown. He got her from his mom before I ever met him. Her dog had puppies, and she couldn’t keep them all, so she gave him one and his brother another.
“I got a new job.” He glances around the apartment. “It’s in New York, and the place my job rented for me doesn’t allow pets.”
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “But congratulations on the new job.”
He shrugs, not looking excited. Instead, he looks sad, and I hate myself a little because I know I’m at least partly responsible for that emotion.
“Do you want her?”
“What?” I jerk back.
“I know my mom is willing to take her, but she is already stressed financially from losing her job and having three dogs. I don’t want Dolly to get there, have Mom change her mind, and her give her away to someone else.”
“Are you being serious?”
“She loves you.”
“I—”
“Please, I wanted to ask you before, but things just—” He cuts himself off, and I nod, because I get it. It’s weird between us. Even if there are no hard feelings, things are still weird.
“Are you sure you can’t take her with you?”
“Yeah, there’s no way I can afford a place on my own, not one that allows pets.”